New research has found that the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) has invested over £20 million in recruiting data professionals.

The data was retrieved through Freedom of Information (FoI) requests and analysed by the Parliament Street think tank. They revealed that the number of staff in data scientist or data analyst roles has increased substantially over the past few years.

Starting with 70 in 2017, the number more than doubled to 150 in 2021. This includes a major push since 2020, when the department had 90 staff involved in data roles.

In total, the DCMS has spent an estimated £20,606,100 on data scientist and data analyst roles during the reporting period.

The largest investment came in 2021, with an estimated total spend of £7,383,000, up 75% on 2020 which saw a spend of £4,213,800. Over the five years, annual investment increased by 140%, rising from £3,081,400 in 2017.

The DCMS listed economists, statisticians, operation researchers and social researchers as the roles contained within data scientist and data analyst staff.

With demand for data professionals increasing by an estimated 50% every year, there is currently huge demand in the UK for people with data skills. However, this is results huge competition in the job market, with many companies chasing a small supply of professionals.

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Commenting on the news, CEO of AG Grid and data expert Niall Crosby said: “Today’s digital world creates a lot of data, and the ability to process, understand, and make decisions based on this data is very important.

“Investing in data analytics will enable the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to operate more efficiently. I am delighted to see the investment the government is making in this area.”

The UK had previously revealed its ambitious AI Strategy with the stated aim of making the country a ‘superpower’ in the technology over the next decade. With artificial intelligence built on a foundation of data, the DCMS figures shows how demand is growing for data experts.

With poor use of data capable of injecting bias into AI, it is important to ensure that the UK invests in data science. This will help produce the skills needed to ensure fair and equitable use of the technology. It is also important to ensure diversity in the data science, to avoid bias overly affecting different groups.

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